Lumia 900: The Wait Continues for a Windows Phone "Hero"

The Nokia Lumia 900, which officially launches Sunday, is being hailed as the first real "hero phone" for Microsoft's Windows Phone platform. While the attention is undoubtedly good for both Nokia and Microsoft, I wonder whether the phone itself lives up to that appellation.

The Nokia Lumia 900, which officially launches Sunday, is being hailed as the first real "hero phone" for Microsoft's Windows Phone platform. While the attention is undoubtedly good for both Nokia and Microsoft, I wonder whether the phone itself lives up to that appellation.

People who follow mobile phones often talk about "hero phones"—high-end devices that truly define a platform and get people into the stores. Apple's iPhone 4S is one, of course, and Apple is unusual in that the bulk of its sales come from that phone (though the 4 and the 3GS are also still sold). For Android, the "hero phone" has been the Galaxy Nexus. It was the first to show off Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and had a big AMOLED display. HTC is also positioning its One X in this space. For BlackBerry, it has been the Bold 9900, which introduced BlackBerry OS 7, an improved screen, and a better browser.

Since Microsoft introduced Windows Phone about two years ago, the company said it would work with multiple partners and therefore I didn't think there would be a single such "hero phone." (After all, you don't see this trend with Windows PCs.) But after Nokia joined the Windows camp last year, it seemed clear that it was the lead developer. And so, we come to the Lumia 900.

At first glance, it certainly has all the appearances of a hero phone. It appears to be a very well-made device, with a 4.3-inch display, support for AT&T's 4G LTE network, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, and a 1-megapixel front-facing camera. It is available in black (which I tested) and white, though I'd spring for the blue model, as the design really stands out more with the contrast. It feels like a very solid phone with higher-end materials than the Samsung Focus, which is the Windows Phone I've been using lately.

There are some issues, though: The display is large, but its 800-by-480 resolution is less-than-competitive with other high-end phones. For comparison, the 3.5-inch display on the iPhone is 960-by-640, while the 4.6-inch display on the Galaxy Nexus is 1280-by-720. Do note that while the Nexus display is larger, part of that usually gets used by the soft buttons for Android 4.0; the Lumia has physical buttons for the Windows menu, back, and search, as is typical for Windows Phone. Much has been made of the screen's improved readability in bright sunlight, and while it did better than some phones, I actually think the iPhone 4S looks better yet.

The Lumia runs a 1.4 GHz single-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 APQ 8055, which would have been high-end a year ago, but doesn't seem quite so advanced in an era where almost every other phone vendor's high-end offering is a dual-core—or perhaps a quad-core—processor. It's faster than the 1 GHz processors in the first Windows Phone models, but its Adreno 205 graphics are behind today's fastest chips, including Qualcomm's own Snapdragon S4 series.

However, in actual use, it feels pretty responsive and the casual games I've tried seem fast enough. This might be an issue if the screen was higher-resolution and it may be holding back the creation of some of the highest-graphics games, but for the user, it generally seems snappy.

The good news is that it is priced at only $99 plus contract, which is much less than the higher-end phones of the other platforms. But as usual, the initial price is relatively small compared with what you'll pay for service over the course of your contract.

What makes the phone stand out is the Windows Phone OS. That's not really significantly changed for this version. Windows Phone 7.5 has been out for a while, and I've been using it for months on a Samsung Focus.

Generally, Windows Phone continues to have a lot of impressive features. It's great for a quick glance to see what's going on, and the "tiled" user interface is different and ambitious. (Indeed, Microsoft is using a variant of this interface in Windows 8.)

It connects well to Outlook and to other Microsoft services, as you would expect, and has surprisingly deep integration with Facebook, Twitter and e-mail contacts. It has strong mobile versions of Office and very nice integration with SkyDrive, Microsoft's online storage service, and Office 365, Microsoft's online applications and storage. If you're a gamer, it also offers strong integration with Xbox Live.

On the other hand, I find the mail client a bit too stripped down. I file things a lot and that option is buried a bit too deep for me. The mobile Internet Explorer 9 browser worked pretty well for me on a variety of sites, including YouTube and ESPN, although like many mobile browsers, it lacks Flash support.

Then there's the issue of applications. While it's certainly still true that the variety in the Windows Phone Marketplace pales in comparison to the App Store and Google Play, the bulk of the leading applications are now available. (There seem to be about 65,000 Windows Phone apps but roughly 700,000 iPhone apps.) Typically, the apps I've used, such as USA Today and the New York Times, look very different on the Windows Phone platform. They follow Microsoft's "tile-based" approach, which leads to a nice consistency for the platform. There are still, however, notable gaps in the app portfolio and new apps still seem to come out first for the iOS, then for Android, and much later for Windows Phone. If you want to be first, this isn't the platform for you.

Still, Windows Phone is a different approach that offers more integration than competing platforms and some people may find that compelling.

So overall, the Lumia 900 is a very attractive phone, but not quite the "hero phone" that Microsoft and Nokia seem to need here. If you're in the market for a Windows Phone, the Lumia clearly sets the standard with its modern design and LTE support.

When the next version of Windows Phone—known as Windows Phone 8, code-named "Apollo"—comes out, I'm hoping it will allow manufacturers to move more quickly to faster processors, and to higher resolution displays. This has been widely rumored for this fall and I'm hoping we see a true high-end phone with the latest in processors, displays, and connections to accompany it, presumably from Nokia. That would be a real hero phone.

Michael J. Miller's Forward Thinking Blog: forwardthinking.pcmag.com
Michael J. Miller is chief information officer at Ziff Brothers Investments, a private investment firm. From 1991 to 2005, Miller was editor-in-chief of PC Magazine, responsible for the editorial direction, quality and presentation of the world's largest computer publication.
Until late 2006, Miller was the Chief Content Officer for Ziff Davis Media, responsible for overseeing the editorial positions of Ziff Davis's magazines, websites, and events. As Editorial Director for Ziff Davis Publishing since 1997, Miller took an active role in...
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